Aug 31, 2009

Tracks to Paradise








Steel rails formerly used for trolley and train are still visible all over Atlanta. The commerce of 5 Points of was a short ride away. Stone Mountain, Decatur, West End, Virginia Highlands, and other neighborhoods were connected by trolley after the Civil War and until the 1920s. Heavy rail provided passenger service all over GA and the South. Residents of Valdosta, GA could take the night train to Atlanta, shop all day, and take the train home in the evening.

The images above were taken near an unused rail line near Briarcliff Rd in northeast Atlanta. The neighborhood closest to this railine is just northeast of Morningside and Ansley Park. It was designed for the less well to do, but a landscaped paradise nonetheless.














The clump of trees behind the Blockbuster were a former home site on North Decatur Rd. Suburbs supplanted suburbs and the strip mall behind this site became more valuable when auto transportation became dominant.

The lower picture is where the home stood. It was not far from Peachtree creek, two heavy raillines and two former trolley lines.




1 comment:

  1. Very interesting site, Zack...good eye. Quite fascinating to see how the passenger-railroad landscape of Atlanta has disintegrated so (almost) completely.

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